Question For The Board
Why is it that news publications such as mlive for example only seem to hire Michigan beat writers that seem to really hate Michigan?? Flip over to the Sparty side on mlive and they seem to have a vast majority of sunshine and roses articles about Sparty and how wonderful they are, rarely critical.
Here’s an example, scroll down to the Michigan portion:
This Slagter was also actively rooting for OSU last year on his twitter as well:
https://mobile.twitter.com/JoshSlagter/status/1066437201855201281
https://mobile.twitter.com/JoshSlagter/status/1066432785789960192
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Journalism isn't what it used to be.
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
i hear they're letting koalas write their stories....
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:38 PM ^
:-) Koala propaganda is the absolute worst.
October 23rd, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
Simian propaganda would make Goebbels proud
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:29 PM ^
I'm guessing that that koala is not exactly a rock of journalistic credibility.
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
thank you. this is pretty funny:
Let’s just say that MGoBlog is not exactly a rock of journalistic credibility, as their site features a picture of a guy holding a “Jesus hates Wisconsin” sign and a cartoon snake bludgeoning a Badger. But there is certainly a buzz
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:59 PM ^
Wut? Jesus doesn't hate Wisconsin?
October 23rd, 2019 at 6:34 PM ^
I am pretty sure Badgers and the hatred thereof figure prominently in a parable somewhere....
October 23rd, 2019 at 7:25 PM ^
XM--I have a Question For The Board but know that you will probably be able to provide the real answer to both a WISCONSIN and MICHIGAN question.
OK, here goes:
Since Elroy" CRAZY LEGS" Hirsch was the only football player ever to make All-American at both schools (and starred in multiple sports)-- can you tell me if his legs were equally crazy--or was one just guilty by association?
Thanks for your time and I appreciate all you do for this country.
PS (did you mean Kahlua or Kaola?)
October 23rd, 2019 at 8:15 PM ^
M & M, you jokester! answer: elroy's legs got mutually and progressively more crazy during his career, with him playing and starring in more sports at michigan, then the marine corp, then in pro football. however, it can be said that his left leg was decidely crazier than his right as it was noted when he was a young 'un, per his bio.
koala and tomato juice is never the right combination. ever.
October 23rd, 2019 at 11:43 PM ^
That was tragically during the polio days...his family sued his epileptic doctor but the court threw it out because they said the case and young Elroy didn’t have a leg to stand on....
October 23rd, 2019 at 4:31 PM ^
Reginald! He used to be nothing...now he’s a koala and he’s cute as a button!
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Who cares? You don't get better by everything being sunshine and rainbows. Pointing out the bad is a way to get things fixed. I've never gotten the hate for Baumgardner. He's critical because there are things to be critical about. If the team was hanging 50+ on every team and giving up 10 points a game, he'd be sunshine and rainbows too.
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
So the team is gonna get better by having writers criticize them and tell them to fix things?
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:59 PM ^
I would hope to hell that coaches pay no attention to what writers write. Their job is simply stated though hard to accomplish. Recruit talent, train talent, make sure talent doesn't get its ass in trouble and put talent in a position to win. Reading what writers write ain't part of it. Harbaugh and his staff would not be here if they didn't know football better than 99.5% of the population. If they get it done, great. If they don't it's on them. They weren't good enough. Whatever writers write has zero to do with it.
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:14 PM ^
WD, Just imagine the people agreeing with him. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. GO BLUE
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:23 PM ^
The job of sports writers is to accurately cover the team, not to improve the quality of the team.
Is it possible to accurately cover michigan football this year and be rosy?
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:56 PM ^
You don't get better with lies either. Michigan was the better team, which he refutes. Michigan missed chances, yes, but put equal reffing out there, this game isn't a PSU victory.
And to specifically answer your "who cares" stupid question - recruits. Parents. high school coaches. and most important, RECRUITS. Or so should be obvious, YOU.
I don't care about legit criticisms, by all means, I'm not suggesting Michigan's out of rank on that list, even. Pointing out the bad would be a way to get things fixed if the bad were being told to the people who could fix instead of fans (duh), or if there were something there about a damned good defense despite the departures last year.
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:13 PM ^
Lynn Henning was a Tigers best writer for a while. And it was so annoying when he wasn’t honest about the Tigers or their farm system. It was all roses with him, and I made it difficult to read.
A happy medium between unsubstantiated joy and depressive trash is probably what was needed.
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Because Michigan journalism graduates get hired by more reputable news sources like The Athletic, the Boston Globe, Tribune, ESPN, etc. and MSU grads get the scraps?
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:31 PM ^
Let’s just not talk about Dave Portnoy
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:33 PM ^
He's not the worst Michigan alum, but he still sucks.
And I'd challenge your assertion that he's a "journalist".
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:56 PM ^
Yeah I actually wonder what his major was. I doubt it was journalism.
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:03 PM ^
There's no J school or journalism major at UM, so, yeah.
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
I'm remembering this from a few years ago so correct me if i'm wrong...
Portnoy actually pulled a fast one on UM. He applied to and got into the nursing program. As we know, nursing schools ache for male applicants. As soon as he got to campus he changed majors (not sure to what). It was tough for him to change, but it got done. I believe he said he would not have gotten in otherwise.
October 23rd, 2019 at 5:31 PM ^
So I just looked up Dave Portnoy. What an a-hole. He unironically talks about how he and his company are not sexist because they "hired girl after girl" and even "gave a couple of girls" a podcast.
Just... no words.
October 26th, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^
Username checks out. Says “Oriental Andrew”
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
Not a journalist. I think he brands himself an entertainer.
October 23rd, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
ESPN hired Jemele Hill.
October 24th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
She’s an exception to the rule and a wonderful journalist.
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
What's mlive?
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:11 PM ^
It's more like mdead, amirite?
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
From that first link. Where’s the lie?
”The Wolverines called timeout before their first snap and looked shell-shocked early. If not for that, Michigan might have pulled off one of the biggest wins of Jim Harbaugh's tenure. Instead, it was Harbaugh whining about officials afterward and the Wolverines counting their missed opportunities in a 28-21 loss against Penn State in which they dominated the second half. So this wasn't the demolition in Madison, but the Wolverines again were the inferior team in a matchup of ranked opponents.”
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
Not sure anyone who watched that game in its entirety can say PSU was the better team.
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
They made fewer mistakes... I think that's a good qualifier.
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:01 PM ^
For what it’s worth, I’m cool with that except for the “whining” part. He had very justifiable gripes. Four huge missed calls that were almost, not quite but almost, as bad as the 2016 game in columbus
October 23rd, 2019 at 9:24 PM ^
Agreed, whining is a bit sensationalist. But I think this is more a case of the OP being butthurt than a publication out to get Harbaugh and Michigan.
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:30 PM ^
MLive has been garbage since all their good writers left.
October 23rd, 2019 at 4:26 PM ^
All?
I think you mean "Both"
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:33 PM ^
Michael Rosenberg is a UM grad and he seemed to relish sticking it to Michigan while he was at the Freep.
October 23rd, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^
As did Drew Sharp, who always slammed UM as if he were trying to get revenge for not getting to sit at the cool kids' table.
October 23rd, 2019 at 5:01 PM ^
Drew definitely had an ax to grind when it came to UM athletics.....
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
Because every fan base thinks their local reporters/state reporters/national media hates specifically them.
For example, Sparty thinks the D News, the D Free Press, AND ESPN are all actively campaigning to destroy them, yet love UM. Yet UM fans think the same outlets hate us and are actively campaigning to destroy us. Both cannot be correct, and most likely, neither are correct. Shit, I'd bet Alabama fans think ESPN hates them, too. This is Sports Fandom 101 - "It is us against the world, and everyone hates just us..."
October 23rd, 2019 at 4:25 PM ^
Point of contention: everybody really does hate sparty
October 23rd, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
LOL. For Sparty, that's the equivalent of telling a kid, "you know, there really *are* monsters under your bed. Good night."
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:35 PM ^
Well dude, even the the good ones we have on this blog would appear to have that attitude. It's about actual results compared to expectations. Pretty hard to be overly upbeat about the football program. Meanwhile, you have Sparty on the other side of the coin, who have no expectations
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:38 PM ^
Interesting question. I don't know exactly why it is the case, but perhaps this will change how you think about it. This was sent to me many years ago and I feel it is relevant here:
In the aftermath of the initial Free Press story in August 2009, I went on the attack. I sent an e-mail to Free Press writer Shannon Shelton, who covers the Michigan State beat. Shelton is a Jemele Hill clone – female, graduated from Michigan State, more of a fan than a journalist, wrote for The State News, terrible writing skills. (I realize the last two mean the same thing). It read as follows:
Shannon,
Undoubtedly your Free Press colleagues Rosenberg and Snyder are taking a tremendous amount of heat for their stories about the Michigan football program this week. As a believer in the role of the news media, I fully defend their right to investigate. I want my football program to be one that follows the rules.
Perhaps the outrage from Michigan fans is in part due to the fact that their counterpart on the Michigan State beat does not show an inclination toward investigative reporting of any kind. You would rather write stories about how Greg Jones was Academic All-Big Ten or how Andrew Hawken has great leadership skills.
So why don’t you drop your popcorn, take the autographed picture of Tom Izzo off your desk, and embrace the investigative responsibilities of your beat? If you are unable or unwilling to do this, I’m sure the Free Press can pair you with another reporter that can cover your weaknesses in this area.
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:46 PM ^
Because mgoblog fans are masochists who love to take the bait? Because clicks are the profit model?
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:47 PM ^
Our football team needs to give them encouraging material to write about more often! I try not to be negative, but it gets hard sometimes! It just keeps getting harder!
Also, I know, that's what she said.
Go Blue!!!
October 23rd, 2019 at 2:50 PM ^
BPone, its contagious